From stigma to demolition: Australian debates about housing and social exclusion

Although the concept of social exclusion is well established in the UK and wider Europe, as an alternative to the use of poverty and inequality, it only recently entered Australian housing and urban policy debates. This paper explores the dominant debates that emerged about housing and inequality in two major reports, which investigated future options for East Fairfield (Villawood) public housing estate in New South Wales prior to its demolition. In conceptualising the debates, the analysis draws on the framework devised by Watt and Jacobs (2000, Housing, theory and society, 17(1), 14–26), which identified three different discourses of social exclusion in British housing and urban policy. It is concluded that the dominant debate at East Fairfield estate drew extensively on a moral underclass discourse that implicated public housing tenure as a major cause of inequality. Whilst there is little doubt that serious problems existed on the estate, questions are raised about the utility of this moral underclass depiction and the rationale it provided for adopting demolition as the definitive solution. The experience of East Fairfield demonstrates that demolition is not a low-cost solution in financial or social terms.     

Measuring housing need and the provision of social housing

The Bramley Report (ADC, 1988), made a detailed attempt to construct a resource allocation formula for social housing provision. In this paper we stand back from the debate over the detail of the models being proposed by Bramley to consider instead the principles which underlie the modelling of housing needs and resource allocation in this context.

The measurement of housing need depends on a few key concepts; the definition of acceptable standards of accommodation, the total numbers of households, and the supply of housing of at least the required standard. Questions then arise as to which indicator should be included in a needs model and how they should be measured. Overcrowding and homelessness are likely to be included whether these indicators are chosen by consumers or by social decision‐makers. Having chosen the indicators they have to be ‘normalised’ to take account of cyclical factors in the housing market, and of the efficiency and policy stances of local authorities. After this the indicators have to be ‘weighted’, otherwise they are all of equal value. Access to owner‐occupation should not be included in the model because ability to buy is an influence on the indicators, and if so included (a key feature of Bramley's proposals) in effect leads to a double‐counting of the problems of access to owner occupation.

In the final resource allocation process there is likely to be a trade‐off between the equitable and the efficient distribution of scarce funds.     

完善社会保障性住房制度

针对目前城镇住房保障体系存在的一系列问题,阐述了住房社会保障范围、保障性住房的建设资金、用地的筹措、住房租金管理制度及分配制度,结合社会保障性住房的特点,提出了完善社会保障性住房制度的合理建议。     

The social construction of housing management

Although housing management as an occupational role has existed for over a century it has never received an adequate definition, and its scope and emphasis have varied over time. This paper locates housing management within the debates on the nature of the professions and bureaucracy, and suggests that these analyses are inadequate. It is proposed that a more fruitful approach in understanding the nature of housing management is derived from a consideration of its ‘social construction’. In support of this interpretation material from qualitative empirical research with practitioners is presented and analysed. Key respondents were identified as people working at the boundaries of housing management, such as in a caring or support role, since it was felt that the perceptions of such boundaries were important in defining the limits and limitations of housing management. In conclusion it is suggested that this is a critical moment for housing management in terms of achieving a more rigorous definition of its activities, and of seeking to resolve the conflict between the pressures to organise around commercial objectives and to provide a welfare service. Meanwhile there remains a somewhat paradoxical situation in that whilst the lack of consistent practice within housing management weakens its claims to occupational strength and legitimacy, these same inconsistencies permit individual practitioners the flexibility to offer a more responsive service to those in need.     

Current developments in social housing management

In this contribution we describe a number of current changes in social housing and social housing management, moving from a social profile to economic efficiency. We sketch conceivable future perspectives for the management of social housing. The authors anticipate increasing professionalization, a tendency towards a more businesslike approach with a larger risk awareness. We expect that future managers of social housing will also remain committed to the target groups who need assistance in obtaining decent and affordable housing.     

The future of Flemish social housing

Housing policy in Belgium and Flanders is directed mainly towards encouraging home ownership. Social housing in Flanders covers a share of 5.6% of the housing stock. This social rental sector is characterized as a safety net by some housing researchers and as a general model by others. During the 1990s and the first half of this decade social housing in Flanders became under discussion. The image of social housing that dominated then was one of increasing problems with tenants and neighbourhoods. Raising the income limits to get a better social mix was advocated by the sector and afterwards by policy as one of the solutions for these problems, meanwhile also improving the revenues of the housing associations. The political discourse however was very little supported by scientific knowledge. This contribution aims at clarifying the position of the Flemish social housing by describing the historical and regulatory context and presenting the results of the Housing Survey 2005. It dispels the misunderstanding that Flemish social housing is a residual model and explores different future models. One of the conclusions is that solving problems of the social rental sector may not occur at the cost of those who need affordable housing most.

联合国人居署签署新的东南欧社会住房改善计划

布鲁塞尔，2006年1月16日——本周，联合国人居署与东南欧稳定公约签署了一项合作协议，为改善东南欧的城市发展与社会住房铺平了道路。     

Awareness development for an energy management program for social housing in Canada

Social housing organizations compete with other social causes for limited public and private sector funding. While the environmental impact is important, it must be recognized that for most social housing organizations the most appealing aspect of an energy management program is the reduction in operating costs through reduced energy consumption. In order to secure financial resources for an energy management program, organizations will need to identify and address stakeholder perspectives in the formulation of ‘marketing’ strategies. The ‘marketing’ of an energy management program would be aimed at illustrating the substantial financial savings that can be achieved by increasing energy efficiency in social housing units. The bonus of an energy management program is the contribution towards environmental conservation and initiatives such as the Kyoto Protocol, as increased efficiency in energy usage and the subsequent reduction in overall energy consumption in social housing units contributes to reducing Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions.     

全国两会特别报道——加强住房保障 创新社会管理

三月的北京,草木萌动,春意渐浓。数千名全国人大代表、政协委员肩负着亿万人民的重托相聚在这里,共商科学发展大计。2012年是实施十二五规划承上启下的关键一年,今年的两会格外引人关注。两会期间,记者就创新社会管理,加强住房保障采访了湖南省委书记周强、江西省委书记苏荣、福建省委书记孙春兰、天津市市长黄兴国、合肥市委书记吴存荣——     

Assembling an innovative social housing project in Melbourne: mapping the potential for social innovation

Abstract

In Australia, echoing trends in the UK, US and Canada, provision of social housing has transitioned from government-led mechanisms to an increasing focus on partnerships between private developers, government and the not-for-profit sector. In this context, social housing is often achieved via the ‘cobbling together’ of necessary resources over time. This article focuses on an innovative social housing project in the inner west of Melbourne, Australia, that involves the modular construction of 57 transportable dwellings located on government-owned land. I apply a theoretical framework that combines insights from social innovation literature and assemblage to understand the process of assembling a pilot project and to chart how the project may be scaled up or scaled out to challenge the system in which homelessness occurs. The research highlights the role of community housing providers as ‘pivot points’ in the social housing sector and acknowledges the importance of credibility, funding, legislative change and construction innovation in scaling housing social innovations.     

The demand for social housing in England in the 1980s

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the demand for social rented housing in England, by combining predictive models for the main component flows. A methodology is developed to overcome the well‐known limitations of waiting list evidence. This enables generalisations about the determinants of demand as well as highlighting policy issues for resource allocation.     

Urban social housing resilience to excess summer heat

The potential levels of exposure to indoor overheating in an urban environment are assessed for vulnerable social housing residents. Particular focus is given to the synergistic effects between summertime ventilation behaviour, indoor temperature and air pollutant concentration in relation to energy retrofit and climate change. Three different types of social housing are investigated (1900s’ low-rise, 1950s’ mid-rise and 1960s’ high-rise). The case study dwellings are located in Central London and occupied by vulnerable individuals (elderly and/or people suffering from ill-health or mobility impairment). Indoor temperature monitoring suggests that occupants are already exposed to some degree of overheating; the highest levels of overheating occur in 1960s’ high-rise tower blocks. The thermal and airflow performance simulation of a mid-floor flat in the 1960s’ block under the current and projected future climate indicates that improved natural ventilation strategies may reduce overheating risk to a certain extent, with night cooling and shading being slightly more effective than all-day rapid ventilation. However, their potential may be limited in future due to high external temperatures and the undesired ingress of outdoor pollutants. This highlights the need for the development of combined strategies aiming to achieve both indoor thermal comfort and air quality.     

Shifting back-changing organisational strategies in Dutch social housing

Since the financial liberalisation from the government in the late 1980s and the 1990s, Dutch housing associations have been very dynamic, embracing both commercial and social activities, becoming increasingly reliant and dependent on market circumstances and undergoing a large number of mergers. In recent years, the Dutch social housing sector has been under increased pressure due to the global financial crisis, increased levels of taxation and the national implementation of EU regulations on ‘Services of General Economic Interest’. It seems likely that factors like these have had an effect on the organisational strategies adopted by housing associations, but the nature and magnitude of these effects are not well known. This paper explores these effects through a survey among Dutch housing associations. The results of the survey were analysed using a social-commercial dimension and a ‘prospector’ – ‘defender’ dimension. Our analysis reveals that housing associations are focusing more on traditional social housing tasks and ‘defending’ strategies, implying some reversal of the developments that had occurred in recent decades.     

为普通人建房——国外福利住宅的发展与特色

中国房地产的迅猛发展成就了经济的繁荣，也带来了很大的弊端和隐患。在对房地产业“暴利”行为的诸多声讨之后，人们开始意识到如何解决老百姓的居住问题才是关键。于是盖福利住宅成为一个重要的话题。在国外。福利住宅已有近百年的历史，它几乎是伴随着第一部住宅法规的颁布而产生。以下所分析的作品是福利住宅在发展过程中著名的实践，反映了不同国家在各个时期的住宅政策和设计特色。[编者按]     

Low cost passive cooling system for social housing in dry hot climate

The low energy approach should be the key concept in any long-term strategy aiming to build sustainability. For Madrid climate, action should be taken to reduce energy demand for heating and cooling in residential buildings.The performance of a passive cooling system was developed as a part of design work for the project of a low cost residential building. The passive cooling systems incorporate a solar chimney and precool the air by using the sanitary area of the building. The natural ventilation is enhanced with the help of the solar chimney and fresh air is cooled down by circulation within the sanitary area. The application of this system to the living rooms of a low cost residential building was evaluated and implemented. This cooling system incorporated to a residential building is the third prototype developed since 1991 by the designers. A model was developed to allow to predict the temperature of the air in the living room. The performance of the passive cooling system was evaluated based on the energy balance for a typical summer day.To reduce the energy demand in winter, a new design and window orientation has been developed and evaluated using DOE-2 simulation tool. The building has been constructed and monitored during 2006-2007.     

What are the impacts of living in social housing? New evidence from Australia

Abstract

In this paper, we apply statistical matching methods to a national longitudinal dataset of Australians facing housing insecurity to estimate the impacts of social housing on employment, education, health, incarceration and homelessness. We find social housing in Australia provides an important `safety net’ protecting people from homelessness. However, at least in the short run, individuals in social housing have similar outcomes in terms of employment, education, physical and mental health, and incarceration to other comparable individuals not in social housing. These are the first estimates of causal impacts of social housing, simultaneously estimating impacts on a range of shelter and non-shelter outcomes highlighted as important by the broader social housing literature. They also provide an interesting contrast with the existing US estimates. These results are potentially due to strict targeting of individuals into social housing and that they represent the average effect across individuals who may experience substantially different impacts.     

Multi‐family housing in the social rental sector and the changing Dutch housing market

The social rental sector has become a major segment of the housing market in the Netherlands (forming 44 per cent of the stock in 1988). Until recently, its management by non‐profit housing associations and municipalities posed no major problems: the stock was relatively new, the general housing shortage was severe, and middle‐income groups accounted for a substantial share of the tenants of social rental housing. This situation has changed; especially the older multi‐family housing in the cities has slipped into a lower position in the urban housing hierarchy, and lower‐income households predominate in this type of housing. At the same time, part of the older stock is in need of renovation. This article reports on interviews with managers of non‐profit housing associations about their strategies to keep the housing in good shape and to find tenants. It also reports on interviews with tenants in newly renovated housing complexes.     

Poles from forest thinnings for low-cost housing

If indigenous resources and traditional techniques are to be utilised for low-cost housing in developing countries, the author shows from experience in Sri Lanka how this could be applied in countries with good forest areas. The thinnings from cultivation could provide poles that may be treated with preservatives to make effective materials for such housing.     

International comparison of social housing management in Western Europe

This article provides an overview of social housing management in seven West-European countries. In order to place the concept of housing management in context and allow comparison, housing management is classified according to technical, social and financial aspects of management. Housing management has become increasingly independent and the financial ties are becoming looser in nearly all of the seven investigated countries. Even though governments still play a major role in Europe with respect to the granting of subsidies, the non-profit institutions have to entirely rely on the capital market in order to obtain the required funds. However, in many cases intermediary organisations are still responsible for attracting loans. Peter Boelhouwer is a senior research at the OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies, Delft University of Technology. His research focus has been on general housing policy, housing finance and comparative housing research. This paper is based on two recent OTB-studies about the social rented sector in Western Europe. The first study was written by Birgitta van de Ven and was published in 1995 in the Dutch series “Volkshuisvestingsbeleid en Bouwmarkt” (26). The title of this report is “Housing systems in Europe: A comparative study of housing management”. The second study (Boelhouwer, 1996) is titled “Financing the social rented sector in Western Europe”, and is published in the series Housing and Urban Policy Studies. This project was carried out by the OTB in cooperation with the School of the Built Environment of the De Montfort University in Leicester (UK). This cooperation forms part of the Centre for Comparative Housing Research.